Russell Westbrook OUT For Cleveland; Ankle Sprain Not Severe

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The Oklahoma City Thunder have announced that Russell Westbrook will miss Wednesday night’s game in Cleveland against the Cavaliers. Westbrook will travel with the team however.

The Thunder play the following night in Oklahoma City against the Houston Rockets. Due to the back-to-back schedule, Oklahoma City will not practice or conduct a shoot around. Westbrook and the team will not have a chance to test the ankle until Friday.

According to the team, they want to see how Westbrook’s ankle reacts to treatment.

At first glance, the injury looked gruesome. Westbrook left last night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans with 4:25 to go in the third quarter after rolling his ankle. The All-Star point guard could barely walk and had to eventually be helped by two trainers into the tunnel.

After the game, Billy Donovan shared that the injury was in fact an ankle sprain but had nothing further to share. Westbrook had an x-ray which came up negative.

Fortunately for the Thunder, the injury is not as severe as it appeared. No time table has been released but due to the decreasing severity of the injury, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Westbrook will return Saturday night in Dallas against the Mavericks or Monday night against the Phoenix Suns in Oklahoma City.

The Thunder are 5-2 since Westbrook returned October 21st in a loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Dennis Schröder will start in place of Westbrook and third point guard Raymond Felton will receive an increase in minutes during Westbrook’s absence.

Brady has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder since 2016. University of Oklahoma alum class of 2014. He has worked for the Franchise since April 2018. Co-Host of the OKC-82 Podcast. Member of the Basketball Insider's Show.